From antiquity, footwear became an important status symbol jealously guarded by the ‘well heeled,’ and through to modern history; protected by Sumptuary Laws to prevent upward mobility.

1. The Curious Origins of Shoes
Cameron Kippen
toeslayer2000@yahoo.com.au

2. The importance of shoes
Shoes retain a unique importance to human
beings which defines complete understanding.
From antiquity onwards, footwear became an
important status symbol jealously guarded by
the ‘well heeled,’ and through to modern history
have been protected by Sumptuary Laws to
prevent upward mobility.

3. Bipedalism
Bipedalism describes walking on two feet as opposed to all
fours (quadripedal gait). No one can be sure when our
ancestors took to bipledal ambulation but it is postulated to
be approximately 7.5 million years ago, with evidence of
tools and language dating back to 2.6 million year ago.

4. Influence of climate change
Transition from 4 legs to 2
is thought to have been
quick, likely as a
pragmatic solution to
environmental change.
There is clear evidence
brain function became
more complex as the
blood flow to the brain
increased.

5. Foot form and function
Walking on two feet
influenced musculature
and body shape. The
human foot had a weight
bearing heel, an inside
arch, and big toe for
ground leverage.

6. Human beings became seeing
beings
Experts believe the
form and function of
buttocks, bosoms; the
legs and thighs,
tummies, hips and
even genitalia were all
influenced by walking
on two feet.
Bipedalism brought
adaptation of the foot,
knee and hip, leaving
hands free to gather
and improved sight to
hunt.

7. When did shoes appear?
The general consensus is
shoes were worn from the
Middle to Upper Palaeolithic
period or Old Stone Age
(circa 40,000 years ago).
This timeline is consistent
with development of tools,
socialisation, and decoration.
Shoe finds date to only
10,000 years ago

8. Shoes: A cover up!
Clothing serves three main
purposes:
decoration,
modesty and
protection.
Whilst the latter may appear
the most logical it is not
supported by history.

9. Decoration
Fig leaf mentality may
excuse why some
covered up, but by far the
major reason for clothing
was decoration.
Early shoe finds confirm
distinctly different, and
highly decorative, styles.

10. The Displacement of Effect
As early human beings covered up their
heads and feet took on new significance.
Heads (hair) and feet took on greater
significance and became genderfied.

11. Why do we dress up?
The essential purpose of decoration
was to beautify bodily appearance,
so as to attract admiring glances
from others and fortify self-esteem.
Initially prehistoric people decorated
and scarified their skins to protect
themselves from imaginary evil
spirits.
Gradually these magical patterns
became incorporated into everyday
clothing as talisman with significant
social and spiritual meaning.
Clothing provides the safest
distance to judge a stranger.

12. Foot Attire and Adornment
Hunters and gatherers
admired the strength
and courage of their
prey and proudly wore
their dead hides next
to their skins in the
hope to harness their
qualities.Victors wore mementos of their
vanquished including their testicles.
Remnants are still seen in modern
shoes i.e. tassels on loafers.

13. Shoes: Rank and Privilege
In Roman Times, wearing
shoes was restricted to
citizens of Rome only. Women
and slaves went without.
Military rank was indicated by
how high leg strapping was
worn.

14. Can you trust yourself alone with
year shoes?
According to Rossi ‘feet are
sensual objects which often
require to be hidden from
unwanted attention.'
Shoe is Anglo-Saxon and
means to cover furtively.

15. Shoes: There are nine of a kind
The Moccasin
The Sandal
The Clog
The Boot
The Monk
The Platform
The Mule
The Pump
The Oxford
Remarkably styles have remained unchanged since the beginning
and shoe finds from antiquity would not be that out of place in the
shop window today.

16. Are feet sexy?
In the brain, the sensory
centre which supplies feet
lies in close proximity to the
sensory nerves of the
genitalia.
Some experts believe there
may be ‘neural print-through’
which, causes the foot to
become sexually expressive.Tickling the feet would be the
same as “tickling the fancy.”

17. Zeitgeist: Courtly Love
61 cms
Promiscuous sex among the
privileged classes was prevalent
in the Middle Ages. In the
absence of feudal lords and
Knights at the Crusades, young
men of the court were taught to
sublimate their desires and
channel their energies into
socially useful behaviour.
Masturbation was commonly
practised as a form of safe sex
and two 24” long dildos did not
go a miss.

18. Poulaines : long toed shoes
Despite Papal disapproval
and sumptuary law to
prevent lower classes
from wearing poulaines
(long toed shoes), the
fashion continued
unabated for four hundred
years.

19. Shoes and safe sex
Shoes were stuffed
with moss and grass
and became phallic
with hawk bells sewn
on the end, to indicate
the wearer was
interested in sexual
frolics. Syphilis epidemics were ever present
prior to the 15 century

20. The scourge of STDs
Wearing poulaines caused men to
adopt a wide based, high stepping gait.
The same pattern (syphilitic
myelopathy) is seen in tertiary syphilis.
The Court Jester appeared at this time
and may have been an attempt to
draw attention away from the madness
associated with late stage syphilis in
the Regent.

21. The Scarpine or Bears Paw
Fashions were slow to
change yet in the 15th
century they changed
almost overnight.
Long toed shoes were
replaced by broad
toed shoes called
scarpines.

22. Scarpines
Very broad shoes
often with pockets for
individual toes. The
shoes were ideal to
protect ulcerated feet.
Leather uppers were
usually slashed to add
volume.
These appeared at a time when
the Cult of the Virgin Mary was
popular

23. The Lotus Foot
In 11th
Century China, young girls (and some boys) had their feet bound from age
four until 19 years. For over a thousand years this practice became a right of passage and
the Lotus foot (3 inches long) was highly prized in a bride. Foot bindings secured a quality
marriage but until recently the reason for the practice has been unclear. However, it is now
better understood, smaller step lengths increased pelvic musculature and the folds of the
vulva. In Taoist China, the act of procreation was considered the highest form of worship,
coupled with unwanted pregnancy and STDs , bound feet were used for safe sex.

24. Lotus Shoes
During the South Sung Dynasty (1127-
1279AD), foot binding became an all
pervasive preoccupation among the
middle and upper class.
Women commonly owned
several hundred pairs of shoes
and spent long hours
embroidering them with symbols
of fertility, longevity, harmony
and union.

25. Chopines
Chopines became fashionable
among women of substance
in the wealthy city states of
the 17th
century, Italy.
As the fashion spread, these
became higher and higher
until they were 24 inches from
the ground.

26. Demise of Platforms
Ladies had to be escorted
when walking outside, and
when more pregnant
woman fell (or miscarried)
over their platforms, the
height of shoes were
controlled by law.

27. The Heeled Mule
After a clever modification
was made to make the
chopine safer, and they
soon became passé.
The heeled mule became
the essential fashion
accessory.

28. Catherine de' Medici (1519 – 1589)
When the young Catherine
arrived in Paris to be married to
the king of France, she was
wearing high heeled mules.
The fashion remained popular
for her life time before it was
considered déclassé.

29. Restifism
Havelock Ellis, an
English psychologist,
pointed out ‘of all the
forms of erotic
symbolism, the most
frequent is that which
idolises the foot and
shoe'.

30. The Stiletto Heel
Roger Vivier invented the Stiletto
Heel after World War II. By
introducing a thin metal plate into
the arch of the shoe, it made the
arch slimmer and the heels higher.
By the 1960's, the stiletto heel was
a 20th
century fashion icon.

31. Acknowledgements
To all sources who
made this presentation
not only possible, but
more importantly,
plausible.
Sincere thanks.

32. Commonwealth of Australia Copyright Regulations 1969
WARNING
This material has been copied and communicated to you by or
on behalf of The Footman © pursuant to Part VB of the
Copyright Act 1968 (the Act). The material in this
communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any
further copying or communication of this material by you may
be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Do not
remove this notice